GP blames death on visa dispute

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TWO days after a 79-year-old woman visiting from Lebanon died of
a heart attack  which her doctor blames on the Immigration
Department  her grieving family received a letter from the
department ordering her to leave the country.

The blunder followed the department's failure to respond to a
letter from Aziza Agha's doctor warning of the risk to her life if
it insisted that she travel from Broadmeadows to the city for a
visa-related medical check-up.

The medical assessment went ahead on August 8. Mrs Agha died two
days later. The assessing doctor found she was fit to fly, as long
as she was accompanied.

Mrs Agha's doctor, Chris Towie, yesterday accused the
Immigration Department of hounding the Syrian-born grandmother to
death by insisting she make the 30-minute journey to the city.

He had treated Mrs Agha at home for five months, certifying her
unfit to fly. She arrived in Australia late last year on a
six-month visitor's visa, staying with her daughter and
grandson.

Dr Towie said he was so incensed by the department's "heartless
act" that he wrote the causes of death on her death certificate as
heart attack and "harassment by the Immigration Department" and has
referred the case to the State Coroner and police.

He called on the department to apologise for its "outrageous
treatment" of the woman, who he described as "a real sweetheart"
who loved her family.

Mr Agha's granddaughter, who does not wish to be named, said an
apology "would be good" but the priority should be to change the
system and ensure no one else had the same experience.

Instead of ruling that her grandmother must leave, "they could
have said she could stay here until she gets better", she said. "No
one was asking for citizenship or for the Government to pay for
anything."

She said her grandmother had an older sister and a brother in
Lebanon, and they were shocked by news of her death.

In a statement, the Immigration Department said it sympathised
with Mrs Agha's family for their loss but "at no stage did
immigration officers suggest that Mrs Agha would be removed".

It said a temporary visa holder was obliged to comply with the
conditions of their visa.

Dr Towie said Mrs Agha's health deteriorated after she developed
an iron deficiency and became anaemic, unsteady of her feet and
frail.

When her visitor's visa expired in March, he said she was unfit
to travel and needed further treatment for her anaemia.

A department spokesman said it issued her with bridging visas
until it received a further doctor's certificate on July 20 saying
it was inconceivable that she was up to travelling.

Aziza AghaPhoto:Courtsey Channel Nine

"The department sought to determine if this was in fact the case
through an independent medical assessment," he said.

It deemed her fit to travel as long as someone accompanied her,
there was wheelchair access to the plane and a back-up oxygen
supply if needed on the journey.

Because her bridging visa expired that same day, the department
called her into its city office to discuss her visa status, her
medical assessment and her fitness to travel, the spokesman
said.

Dr Towie said he wrote to the department. "I was very concerned
that if she was forced to undergo a trip to the city in a strange
country in a strange environment with great fear in her heart, that
the stress could be fatal to her," he said.

Stan Macionis, the managing director of Health Services
Australia, a Government-owned agency that specialises in medicals
on visa applicants, said a senior doctor had reviewed the clinical
notes of its assessing doctor and the company stood by his
report.

His examination "showed no sign of impending medical
disaster."

A spokesman for the coroner's office said yesterday that it had
the details of the case and would gather information to determine
whether an inquiry was warranted.